


Peonies

by mylifeissocoollike



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Marauders' Era, Valentine's Day, jily, jily valentines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 13:42:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9742349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylifeissocoollike/pseuds/mylifeissocoollike
Summary: The five times James gave Lily flowers and the two times he didn't; or, How Lily Evans fell in love with James Potter.





	

**1972**

On her first Valentine’s Day at Hogwarts, Lily received lilies from five different people. She loved them because she knew her friends and that one boy from Hufflepuff had good intentions. She knew they thought it’d be cute to give Lily the flower she was named after. Everyone always thought it would be.

After going through it for so many years, Lily should have seen it coming and warned them. Perhaps she could have worn a sign around her neck starting a week prior that read: _I do not like lilies_.

But despite how unoriginal the flowers were, she carried them around proudly all day. They were beautiful after all. And she may have woken up too late to shower that morning so their sweet perfume was welcome.

That night she sprawled on her back on the floor by the fire with Mary and Marlene. They giggled about all the couples they had seen that day and the boy who had given Mary chocolates. Suddenly, James Potter’s face was looming above Lily’s.

“What on earth are you doing, Potter?” she exclaimed, bolting upright and nearly smacking her forehead against his. He muttered something incoherent before dropping a flower into her lap and bolting toward the boy’s dormitories.

“What was that about?” Marlene asked. Still lying down, she and Mary couldn’t see what James had given Lily.

“Nothing,” Lily said as she slipped the perfect pink peony into the billowy sleeve of her robes. How he knew her favorite flower was a mystery to her. But even more mysterious was the heat spreading across her face and the pounding of her heart. Stupid James had given her some sort of prank flower that made her feel sick. That had to be it. There was no other explanation.

Still. She kept the flower between the pages of one of her transfiguration books.

**1973**

In her second year, Lily pulled an all-nighter the night before Valentine’s Day.

“I can’t believe you procrastinated that assignment that long,” Marlene said as they made their way to breakfast.

“It wasn’t even a difficult assignment, did you really have to stay up all night?” Mary asked. Lily grunted and squeezed her eyes shut. The halls were too bright and the students were too loud. She hated herself for staying up all night and just wanted to crawl back into bed.

As they took their seats at their regular spot, Lily finally took note of her surroundings. The Great Hall was abuzz with activity as students moved around, giving gifts to their friends and lovers. Sour, and tired, Lily rolled her eyes at it all and took a heaping scoop of porridge. She stared intently at her food, focusing on not falling asleep face first in the bowl. Suddenly, a flower drifted down in front of her.

A pink peony.

She looked around her and almost missed the lanky boy running a hand through his hair as he slipped out of the Great Hall. At any other time, it would have gotten on her nerves. She would have stormed after James, waving the flower in his face and demanding answers.

But this morning she was tired. And there must have been something different about the porridge because it was making her feel quite warm and tingly. So for some reason she didn’t exactly understand, Lily smiled at James’ retreating figure and wore the flower in her hair for the rest of the day.

**1974**

Valentine’s Day the next year was uneventful. James was still a pain in her arse, but slightly less so than he had been the year before. There were times when he would sometimes show his good side. The moments were rare, but sometimes they would play a game of chess together in the Common Room that wouldn’t end in death threats. Sometimes, he would tell a joke not at the expense of others and Lily actually found herself laughing.

James Potter was a complicated, irritating pain but at least he was consistent.

This year, when a pink peony suddenly appeared in front of her, Lily was ready. She jumped out of the chair she had been sitting in, working on a charms assignment and whirled around. James stood there, a stunned expression on his face. Clearly, he had expected to be able to slip away like he always did.

“Um, thank you for all the flowers, James,” she stammered. She could feel her face heating up and could see his doing the same.

“S’nothing.” He shrugged as he turned and retreated to the corner of the room that he always occupied with his friends. She watched Sirius laugh at him as he returned. Suddenly she found herself making eye contact with Remus, who smirked at her.

Lily flipped him off.

**1975**

That year she spent most of Valentine’s Day with Severus. They did homework, played chess, and explored the halls. It was a calm, relaxing day and Lily really didn’t mind. She hadn’t spent time alone with him since the train ride back from winter break. It was nice to catch up.

But as they talked, Lily felt like something was different. She couldn’t exactly tell if it was a bad different or not but something about her friend had definitely changed. Severus was moodier. He snapped at her more. He told cruel jokes and complained when she didn’t laugh. It was odd. She wasn’t sure where her gentle, quiet friend had gone but she pushed the growing panic aside and told herself it was just a phase.

At the end of the day when he walked her back to Gryffindor Tower, he handed her a lily.

“It’s lovely, Sev,” she said.

She could have sworn her best friend knew that she hated getting lilies. But she brushed it off. They hadn’t spent time together recently, he must have just forgotten.

After she settled into the Common Room, however, she found herself looking at the portrait every time it swung open. She wasn’t waiting for James, she told herself. She wasn’t hoping he’d show up, peony in hand. She wasn’t disappointed at all when he finally came in with Sirius and walked right past her, ignoring her completely.

**1976**

When Lily went to bed that Valentine’s Day, she didn’t know what to think. She had been so sure that last year was a fluke. That James had just forgotten what day it was and then been too embarrassed to admit it. But this year, the same thing had happened. He had completely ignored her. For some reason, receiving the cold shoulder from him hurt more than she ever could have imagined.

“That horrid prat was within flower giving range at least eight times today,” she said to no one in particular. Groans came from the beds next to her.

“Just shut up about him,” Mary said.

“Sounds like you’re a bit obsessed for someone who’s supposed to hate Potter,” Marlene said.

“I am _not_ obsessed with Potter,” Lily hissed.

But as she lay there, staring at the curtains of her bed, she realized that maybe they were right. Maybe she _was_ just a little obsessed with James. It was time to move on. So what if James didn’t want to keep giving her peonies on Valentine’s Day? That was perfectly fine. They weren’t even friends after all, so why should she care?

She didn’t. Not one bit.

**1977**

After the incident at the end of fifth year, Lily was surprised by how far her relationship with James had come in the past few months. Somehow, he was proving to her that he had grown up. He was still an irritating prankster, but the arrogance was gone. It had been replaced by a sincerity and kindness Lily hadn’t known he was capable of. If she were to be honest with herself, she would have admitted that she quite liked the new James.

That Valentine’s Day, she found herself in the Astronomy Tower, drunk and playing stupid games with Mary, Marlene and the boys. They had been spending more time together, the seven of them, and it was quite enjoyable.

“James, truth or dare,” Peter asked.

“Truth,” James said.

“You always pick truth you big coward!” Marlene shouted. She was hanging from a rafter, still on a dare from Sirius to “hang like a bat for fifteen minutes.”

“I don’t have a question for him, I was hoping he’d pick dare,” Peter admitted.

Lily watched as James laughed at them all and ran a hand through his already messy hair. It must have been the alcohol and shit lighting because in that moment she thought James Potter looked quite attractive. _Fuck_.

“I can ask him a question if you’d like,” she said. She didn’t know why she said it but Peter nodded so she couldn’t back out now. James suddenly looked as nervous as she felt. Lily wondered if he knew. Did he know how much the lack of flowers had been bothering her? Was he doing it intentionally just to set up this very moment? To make her admit that she missed the pink peonies and sometimes looked at that very first one and wondered what had gone wrong?

“Why don’t you give me flowers anymore?” she blurted out. Their friends were all suddenly silent. She cursed herself for doing this in front of them. She cursed herself for doing it at all.

“Because,” James paused and Lily wondered if he was actually going to tell her the truth. “Because I saw Snape give you a lily in fourth year and heard you tell him how great it was and felt like a prat for always giving you stupid peonies.”

Lily was acutely aware that her mouth was hanging open. He had seen that? That damn lily was the reason he had stopped giving her flowers? He was embarrassed and thought that after all those times, she really didn’t like the peonies?

“James,” she leaned forward until their noses were almost touching. She had never been this close to him before. He was warm and his breath smelled like firewhiskey.

“I fucking hate lilies,” she said as seriously as she could while gazing into his eyes. It was hard to stay focused looking at eyes that beautiful.

Their friends burst out laughing and James smiled at her. She slowly inched away, suddenly conscious of how close he really was and how much closer she wanted to be. _Don’t you dare think of him that way_ , she warned herself.

When she woke up the next morning and saw a pink peony on her pillow, all resolve went out the window.

**1978**

Lily decided that this was the day she’d finally tell James how she felt. Maybe it was cliché to reveal her feelings on Valentine’s Day but as far as she could tell, they had started on Valentine’s Day anyway. If he hadn’t given her that flower back in first year, who knows where their relationship would be now.

They did rounds together that night. He hesitantly took her hand as they patrolled the halls. He had been doing that lately. It was nothing more than hand holding and he never mentioned it after. She wondered if he was afraid to. She certainly was. If they stopped the obvious flirting to actually talk about what they had between them, what would happen? Taking a deep gulp of air, she decided to find out.

“James.”

“Lily.” He looked at her with a coy smile on his face. She stuck her tongue out at him and he just smiled wider. She liked it when his smile was so large it made his eyes sparkle. She liked it even more when she was the cause of such a dazzling smile.

“Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?” she asked.

“Yeah sure. I was already going to go with the boys but I’d love it if we all went together.”

“That’d be nice, but I was thinking we could go alone.”

James slowly stopped walking and turned to face her. She stared up at him, willing him to say something so she could talk and ignore the pounding of her heart and painful dread that was sinking in her stomach. _He doesn’t want to go with you. His silence is clearly a sign that he doesn’t feel that way-_

“Like a date?” James finally said. His free hand reached up to cup her face. She wondered how such large, callused hands could be so soft and gentle. How they could be so loving.

“Yes,” she breathed. As soon as the word left her lips, James kissed her.

It was hesitant at first. Two people who had never kissed each other before, figuring out what to do. But then Lily ran her tongue along his bottom lip and James shivered. The hand that had been gently holding her face moved to the back of her neck while the other abandoned her hand and held her waist instead. Lily bunched her hands into his shirt and pulled him closer to her. Every place he touched her felt electrified. It sent a thrill through her that she’d never felt before.

They stood there for what felt like ages. Lily was breathless when they finally broke apart. She had a hand in his hair and found that it was just as soft as she had imagined. James’ glasses were askew but he still smiled at her like the happiest person in the world. And in that peaceful moment, limbs entwined, foreheads touching, smiling like idiots in an abandoned hall in Hogwarts, they just may have been.

James finally broke away from the embrace and pulled a pink peony out of his robes. Lily laughed as he tucked it behind her ear and kissed her softly.

How James had ever figured out her favorite flower was still a mystery to her. But one she would be happy never to solve.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for the dumb summary but I hope you all enjoyed it. Find me on tumblr @swearwolflupin <3


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